I've read many times of a story written in 1898 about a ship called Titan that was the same size as Titanic, hitting an iceburg on its maiden voyage and sinking with great loss of life. It was called Futility and written by a guy named something Morgan I think. I suppose it's out of print but has anyone read this book? Was it as accurate as I've read or was that sensationalised?

-- Lianne (liannegraham@one.net.au), January 06, 1998

Answers

Response to Futility

I've heard of it for years but have not read it nor have I seen it. I do know it was written by Morgan Robertson and I understand the resemblence to Titanic is down right spooky! You might try a local library or some of the literary searches on the web. Good luck.

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), January 06, 1998.

Response to Futility

Lianne: I just did some further research and came up with the book! It is available from AMAZON.COM . Do a search under that site for "futility" and you will come up with it. It is also called "THE WRECK OF THE TITAN". ....Peter

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), January 06, 1998.

Response to Futility

The book is by Morgan Robertson. It was reprinted in 1991 as "Futility: The Wreck of the Titan." It may be available if you have a good bookstore owner who has access to warehouses...coincidentally, I ordered one today! The warehouse in NY where my bookseller gets his stuff listed 80 copies available...by the way, the 1991 copy lists for $27.95, library binding. Good luck. I always check old bookstores and tag sales for the original...

-- Bonney Prince (hauptman@sover.net), January 16, 1998.

Response to Futility

yes, this book is real and most likely a HUGE coincedense. The ship in Futility was called the Titan. Other than that there are several similarities between the two ships. Both were triple screw propellors, both were about 900 feet long, the Titan was about 45,000 gross tons, the Titanic was 46.328 gross tons. Both ships hit an iceburg on their maiden voyage and both hit that burg on their starboard side. Both had thousands of lives lost because the lack of lifeboats. Morgan Robertson also wrote another book that had odd similarities with the second world war. he talked about "sun bombs" which could wipe out a city and the flash of it blinded those who looked at it. But the kicker is this: The war was started by a sneak attack from Japan on Hawaii. Freaky huh? I think this guy had a very special gift. That or history really liked his work.

-- Miranda Swearingen (Kylen1@hotmail.com), January 21, 1998.

Response to Futility

Thank you to all who replied, I have found and read Futility. As a story I thought it a bit dry, fairly typical of its time, but it's vision and foresight impressed me greatly. Largley a story of corruption, the reality proved to be a bit better handled. Morgan Robertson wasn't the only one to write a prophetic story about the Titanic either. In 1892, a famous journalist, named W.T. Stead wrote an article eerily similar. He was on the Titanic and died!

-- Lianne (liannegraham@one.net.au), January 28, 1998.

Im from australia and have been interested in anything associated with the Titanic. I have heard of the book "Futility" by "Morgan Robertson" and am trying to get a copy, but it seems impossible to get one over here. Does anyone knw of a bookstore that i can buy from and have it sent over here to Australia? Plz if u know of anywhere plz email me. I would greatly appreciate any help at all. Thanx Sonyah.

-- sonyah (misty000_99@bigpond.com), January 04, 2004.

Hi, everyone. Futility did, of course, did have quite a few things in common with the actual tragedy of the titanic. However, it is almost laughable to think that miss Robinson was possesed by some divine spirit and therefore able to see the future, which seems to be the common concensus. There are, however, slight differences in the story line. For example, instead of turning the iceberg, and going full stearn, the Titan rams the iceberg head-on, and basically scales it, placing the bow in an upright position. There was even a resident polar bear! So, uncannily similar or not, Futility is just a novel, by just another author. Daniel

-- Daniel (syk_pal_dahicks@msn.com), February 01, 2004.

The Wreck of the Titan or Futility was originally written in 1898, after the Titanic disaster Morgan Robertson rewrote the story and republished it. The 1912 version is essentially the same as the 1898 edition, but Mr. Robertson adjusted the dimensions of the Titan and made a few other minor changes.

-- Martin Haider (mjhaider_99@yahoo.com), March 06, 2004.

Morgan Robertson could have very well have changed Futility or The Wreck of the Titan, then republished it...BUT what about Beyond the Spectrum? It was written about World War II but Morgan Robertson died in 1915, We entered World War II in 1941. Maybe he didn't change that much of the orginal story of the Titan. What if he didn't change any of it when it was republished? It makes sense to me... maybe he truly did have a gift for history.

-- Teresa (heavensangels20022006@yahoo.com), February 10, 2005.